


Outstretched Thumbs and Free Spirits

by TurntSNACO



Category: The Derp Crew (Youtube RPF)
Genre: Hitchhiking AU, I wish I could've fit tom and galm in here, I'm too lazy to write a good description, M/M, oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 15:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3942523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurntSNACO/pseuds/TurntSNACO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven was a hitchhiker, and he just wanted a ride out of state. But a boy named Anthony couldn't help but get his attention</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outstretched Thumbs and Free Spirits

**Author's Note:**

> This is like... A rly lazy fan fic. Have fun guys. I love hitchhiking aus tho omg

Steven was sure he’d been standing here for more than 30 minutes by now. Of course, he couldn’t be absolutely sure, since his watch had given up on him a few days ago. He mentally cursed, wishing he could buy a new one. Surviving off the kindness of others isn’t exactly a good way to get a steady course of income. All he had left was 10 crumpled dollars in one of the smaller pockets on his pack. He knew he’d have to ditch some things soon, considering his pack was so heavy he felt like he had to make a constant effort to stay balanced. He hadn’t packed all his stuff very well, he gave up a long time ago and decided randomly shoving stuff in his pack would be fine, apparently not though.

He shrugged his backpack off, letting it fall to the ground. He quickly grabbed one of the straps tightly, making sure no one would try to make a move and steal it. He definitely learned a thing or two when he saw that random guys pack get nabbed by someone. 

Steven sighed, relaxing his arm a bit, only to stiffen it and extend it out when he saw a car pass. You think someone would pick him up, since he was on a rather busy road. But no one seemed to pay attention to him or his extended thumb.

It only got harder and harder to hitchhike, since there were so many news stories about people getting murdered by hitchhikers. Everyone was too scared to pick anyone up nowadays.

He’d only been on the road for a good 3-4 months, and it was about as bad as he expected. He’d been surviving on a diet of almost entirely peanut butter and bread, which was like cement in his stomach and kept him from being hungry longer. His neck was stiff since he ended up sleeping in an alleyway because he couldn’t find a suitable abandoned house, or someone who’d take him in for the night since he was just a 15 year old kid. People tended to have a lot of sympathy for him, but apparently today was just not his day.

It was the beginning of september, and he’d be starting his freshman year if he hadn’t dropped out and ran away. He didn’t regret it really, since hitchhiking across the country could be pretty exciting and even fun sometimes. There’s no way he would’ve been able to make it through high school anyway, considering middle school was too much of a struggle for him.

The cloud around him grew darker and darker as time went on, bitter winds were starting to dry out his lips and make his eyes sting. There’s no way he’d be able to hitch a ride in the rain, so he needed to get one fast.

Steven unzipped his backpack, quickly pulling on the black wool cap the rested at the very top. When he zipped back up his backpack and turned around, he was met with a pair of brown eyes staring at him. He reached into his pocket quickly, pulling out the pocket knife that resided in it. 

He glared at the boy that seemed to be around his age, as soon as the boy realized he had a knife his eyes widened. He could see the fear in them. 

“What’d you want?” Steven said in a cold even tone.

The boy didn’t respond for a moment, he was staring at the knife. He quickly snapped out of it though, and responded.

“I.. I uh.. No need to hurt me or anything.. Just saw you were hitchhiking.” The boy gulped, he seemed completely harmless to Steven, so he slowly lowered his knife and tucked it in his pocket. Still holding it tightly. 

Steven took in the boys appearance. He seemed recently showered, his clothes were in nice shape, and he held a backpack that was definitely not full of all the essentials. He groaned internally, he knew what was happening now. It was a newbie, a kid brand new to the harsh world of hitchhiking. 

The boy shifted from foot to foot, biting his lip before blurting out.

“So what’s your name?” 

Steven pulled the wool cap lower on his head, covering his ears a little bit more. 

“Most people call me Ze. Listen kid, I’d love to help you but I kinda gotta hitch a ride outta here and fast.” 

The boy gave a small laugh.

“My names Anthony. But I guess you can call me Chilled since we’re not going by real names. And geez, don’t you sound like a grumpy old man? How old are you even? 17? 18?” Anthony guessed.

Steven shook his head, paying less attention to the boy and paying more attention to the passing cars. He held out his thumb and gave all the cars passing his best smile. He really needed to get out of here. Out of the state, more specifically. He’d seen enough of Oregon.

“I’m 15.” Steven said absentmindedly. He noticed the brief moment of shock that passed over Anthonys face, before he quickly covered it up.

“Oh. That’s cool, I’m 17. Just starting with the whole hitchhiking thing, bailed out on my education just at the beginning of my senior year, kind of a shame really.. But I was totally screwed. No way I was gonna graduate.” Anthony gave him a goofy smile. 

Steven couldn’t help but think how screwed over this poor boy was, of course he started hitchhiking when it started to get cold. It was Stevens first winter out on his own, and he was sure he was more prepared than Anthony ever could be. 

Steven was smiling so wide his face was really starting to hurt. He was about ready to give up and try to find a semi warm place to crash, when a car pulled over near them. He gave an audible sigh of relief, walking up to the car as the man inside was rolling down the window.

Steven assessed him quickly, he seemed pretty normal to him, around both Anthony's and Steven’s age, a bit older perhaps. Although that didn’t rule out him being a murderer. But at this point he was sure he’d rather die than spend another night in the rainy state of Oregon.

Steven could feel the presence of Anthony behind him, feeling grateful at least that he wasn’t saying anything. He was sure he was gonna kill him if he ruined this ride for him.

“Thanks for stopping. So, where ya heading?” Steven had perfected the technique at this point, you had to be nice but not too nice, you had to take on the tone of a casual conversation, and of course, you had to smile.

The man in the car gave a small smile, looking between Anthony and Steven.

“I’m heading up to Washington, more specifically up to Seattle. I could take you and your friend there with me for the whole ride if you want. You guys seem pretty friendly.” 

Steven gave a quick nod, looking towards Anthony. 

“You coming with Chilled? Probably your only chance to turn back and go home.” Steven crossed his fingers mentally, hoping he’d just go home and he wouldn’t have to share the ride. 

But alas, Anthony shrugged his shoulders and opened the back door of the car. Steven cringed, he was definitely not doing this right. But Steven got in right after him, hoping he wouldn’t ruin the ride for the both of them.

“Thanks.” I said, giving another smile to the man. It’s crazy how much smiling is involved with hitchhiking.

“No problem. So tell me a bit about yourselves. Where you guys from? How long you been hitchhiking? Why’d you start? C’mon, gimme all the juicy stuff. Oh, by the way. My names John, most people call me Smarty though, don’t ask.” John turned around and gave a goofy grin before starting to drive again. Rain started coming down softly, Steven was glad he got a ride when he did.

“My nicknames Ze, real names Steven. Just call me Ze though. I’m from Idaho. Visited Las Vegas, Nevada and a few places in California before I ended up here. Been traveling for 4 months or so. Started hitchhiking because school wasn’t really for me.” 

John seemed pretty alright to Steven, it’d be best to get along since they had quite a few hours to go until they got to Seattle. He silently hoped it wouldn’t be raining for once in Seattle, but even if it was at least he’d have a new state added to his belt. 

Steven looked over to Anthony, and saw he looked rather nervous and twitchy. He could understand why though, he was like that when he first started too.

“I uh.. Names Anthony, call me Chilled. From this state, started traveling today. Started hitchhiking for pretty much the same reason he did, we just met shortly before you came actually.” Anthony cleared his throat, Steven could tell he was pretty scared.

They spent most of the time talking, they all got along quite well actually. Steven found himself taking a liking to Anthony over time. He started to even realize that he was pretty cute. He pushed that down pretty quickly though, since he was sure he wouldn’t see Anthony again when they got to Seattle. It’s better to travel alone. 

Only a few hours later they found themselves in Seattle. For once it wasn’t raining. Steven sighed in relief. 

John seemed sad to see them go, but said a quick goodbye when they got out. Steven stretched, letting out a pretty loud yawn before relaxing again. Anthony was looking up at his expectantly. 

Steven knew Anthony wanted him to help him, but really he had to keep moving. He waved a quick goodbye before heading in the opposite direction. He was quickly stopped when Anthony grabbed him arm. 

“Wait! I.. Don’t want you to leave. Do you want to leave? Because I think you don’t.” There was a hint of confidence in Anthony’s voice. He changed so quickly, one second he was timid, the next he was confident.

Steven thought about it for a second, perhaps more so a minute. It’d be nice to have someone watch his back, and it’d be nice to not be so lonely, but there were a lot of negatives… Finally, Steven turned around and gave a small smile.

“Fine. We can stick together for now. Don’t piss me off though, or I’ll leave you behind!” Steven was joking somewhat, but it was funny seeing the bit of panic flash across his face.

“I’ll be good!” Anthony said with a smile twice the size as the one Steven gave him.

They wandered around for quite a bit, taking in the sights. Anthony was like a ball of energy, and at first it annoyed Steven but soon he grew used to it, laughing at how excited he was.

Soon the sun started to dip low in the sky, Steven asked a passerby what the time was, and which they responded by saying “7:38 pm” it was starting to get late. Steven watched as Anthony slowly lost steam, he could tell he was getting tired, but their night was just getting started. 

Steven grabbed his hand, pulling him away from a souvenir shop. He dragged him to a nearby train yard, which Steven only knew the location of simply because he did a heavy amount of research before he left months ago.

“Where are you taking me..?” Anthony's eyes were beginning to droop, but he’d be wide awake real soon.

“You haven’t seen any of it yet. It’s time to train hop. C'mon, I’m not spending the night in Seattle. Too much crime.” 

Anthony's eyes widened.

“Isn’t that illegal?” 

Steven couldn't help but laugh at that, he laughed harder than he’s laughed in a long time.

“Yeah. In some states hitchhiking is illegal too, you’ll get over it. Welcome to the madness.” Steven grinned at him, still holding Anthony's hand, which Anthony was starting to notice. He squeezed his hand and Steven smiled as he squeezed back.

They hopped into an open train car, the conductor was smoking a cigarette when they sneaked by. Steven admitted to him he had no idea where this train would be going, but he said it was part of the adventure.

They huddled close into the darkness of the open box car, shushing Anthony whenever he tried to talk. They needed to keep quiet until they got moving.

Ever so slowly the train started to move, Steven sighed in relief, glad that this wasn't one of the times he got caught. He took his pack off and unzipped it, pulling out a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. Steven saw Anthony's eyebrows raise and laughed.

“Welcome to the hitchhiking life, this is basically all I eat.” Steven used an old plastic knife to spread the peanut butter on the bread, handing a piece to Anthony.

“5 star meal eh?” Anthony laughed and rested his head on Steven's shoulder, taking tiny bites of the bread ever once in a while. 

At one point Anthony took a chance and kissed Steven on the cheek. Steven laughed.  
“C'mon, you can do better than that!” Steven said as he leaned in to kiss Anthony. The kiss was very brief, and when they pulled away Anthony licked his lips and fell into a laughing fit.

“What?!” Steven explained.

“Nothing.. Nothing.. It’s just that you taste like peanut butter.” 

Steven groaned.

“Gee, I wonder why.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had a blast writing this... (Even though I made up a lot of the info, like Ze living in Idaho for the sake of plot)
> 
> I haven't slept in 24 hours
> 
> Send help.


End file.
